The Realms Within [Fan Expansion Concept]

[Jingoo]

From the mere look of it, this looks like Cataclysm 2.0, revamped old zones, dungeons, even the main story idea sounds similar. The only exception is bigger revamp to professions which could easily be done in a patch (bigger one). No, just no. I'd rather have Starcraft and Warcraft merged expansion than this old content revamping.

[Edlarel]

From the mere look of it, this looks like Cataclysm 2.0, revamped old zones, dungeons, even the main story idea sounds similar. The only exception is bigger revamp to professions which could easily be done in a patch (bigger one). No, just no. I'd rather have Starcraft and Warcraft merged expansion than this old content revamping.

At least you qualify this with "From the mere look of it." Had you read through more, you would realize how much more there is, and how much different (albeit similar themed) it is as well.

[Lochton]

Hmm, with such a name, and with where it would take place, I think the OP might have lost out on enforcing the Goblin Vs. Gnomes. As you have Undermine, and you were only by minimal mention, taking Gnomeregan.

[Edlarel]

Hmm, with such a name, and with where it would take place, I think the OP might have lost out on enforcing the Goblin Vs. Gnomes. As you have Undermine, and you were only by minimal mention, taking Gnomeregan.

It's not so much Goblins vs. Gnomes. More they're a piece of the larger puzzle. There is definite focus on both, especially with Mimiron and the mechagnomes as well as Undermine in general. There's an instance dedicated for each of those races specifically, as well. All in all, there's probably 50% focus on gnomes and goblins and 50% on the rest, combined, with a heavier focus on the subraces/tinker class/mechanical theme.

[Lochton]

It's not so much Goblins vs. Gnomes. More they're a piece of the larger puzzle. There is definite focus on both, especially with Mimiron and the mechagnomes as well as Undermine in general. There's an instance dedicated for each of those races specifically, as well. All in all, there's probably 50% focus on gnomes and goblins and 50% on the rest, combined, with a heavier focus on the subraces/tinker class/mechanical theme.

Well, Mimiron and the Mechagnomes are ancients of the Gnome history. I meant, you're opening up to what I can see as subterrain content. And with the retaking of Gnomeregan, that'll basically be alarm bells for the Goblins unless temp. truce.

Undermine would scream for Horde, as Gnomeregan would for the Alliance - though Undermine would most likely scream more due to Garrosh having abused goblins without pay, as well as Bilgewater Cartel not having signed in among the other cartels.

[Edlarel]

snip.

all very good points and things worth exploring in quest lines/story arcs. As much as there is here already, consider that this is all still very broad strokes for an expansion. Like a big storyboard. I'm not detailing everything, but rather, laying out ideas that play well with each other to open a dialogue much like what we've started

[Edlarel]

Class Updates: New Paths
The decision to “leave classes alone” in Tides Beneath Azshara (TBA) was a controversial first attempt at focusing on a different aspect of the game while keeping the relative class balance introduced from a previous expansion (Legion). While the extent of this will not be so grand in The Realms Within, classes as a whole will not be greatly modified. Instead, a couple of specs will get minor updates in much the same way as large patches pushed out during the course of an expansion. By keeping the class structure created in Legion for another expansion, Blizzard is able to again put its focus on maintaining the balance it has achieved while not forcing players to relearn their specs. In addition, it opens up the opportunity to introduce not only a new class (the Tinker), but a new spec or two as well.

Doing this will not frontload the work put into the expansion, because they will be spread out within the context of different patches, providing both lore opportunities for their introduction, and time to make adjustments before their release.

Throughout the course of this expansion, questlines will open up for siege tinkers, protection warriors, enhancement shaman, and mistweaver monks which allow them to learn new specializations into which they can then change. These “sub-specializations” maintain most of the spells and abilities of the spec they started as, but have a different function or placement during combat. If this experiment is well received, future options may open up for other classes also, when it makes sense.

Tinker: Shredder
At launch, siege-specced tinkers can begin a questline where they modify their powered armor so that it can deal melee dps. When the questline is complete, they will gain access to this new specialization, which functions much like the gladiator does for warriors.

Warrior: Gladiator
Expected release 9.0.5 - The concept of the gladiator, introduced in Warlords of Draenor, was very well received by protection players who wanted to dps with a weapon and shield combination. This expansion realizes the gladiator as its own specialization for the warrior class. While it may seem controversial to have a 3rd melee dps spec for the class, it still fits the fantasy of a proud combatant able to wield many different weapons, or otherwise, as he races into battle.

Monk: Crane Dancer
Expected release 9.1 - During Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor, monk healers could specialize in such a way that they could heal in melee by damaging their enemies and channeling that energy into soothing magic for their allies. Legion removed this option in favor of the class fantasy centered around the Jade Serpent. At the same time, the idea of a hybrid dps/healer was given to discipline priests, who have proven that the higher skill requirement can be appreciated by a good portion of the playerbase. To a lesser degree, holy paladins could close into melee to restore their mana while still healing their companions.

The Realms Within reintroduces this option as a new specialization for the monk, reimagined as the crane dancer. Crane dancers fight beside fellow party members, drawing on the spirit of the red crane to bolster movement speed, haste, and the mending of wounds. Visuals of healing spells while in this spec are red instead of green where it makes sense.

Shaman: Earth Warder
Expected release 9.2 – Long has the shaman community requested exclusive access to their fourth element, earth, in a way that doesn’t greatly overlap with the other specs (Elemental = air, enhancement = fire, restoration = water). During the events of patch 9.2, they will get that opportunity at last when Rehgar Earthfury introduces them to the use of geomancy to protect their allies.

Earth warders use a weapon and shield combination to act as tanks for their party or raid. They have a similar spell set to enhancement shaman, with earthen fist being a primary attack and means of generating maelstrom energy to be used for maintaining agro and casting protective wards on the shaman and her allies.

[Choppersan]

The concepts presents here are all very nice,an underground expansion is something who we need to get one day,and your representation of it is really good,especially the underground rail system who i find visually amazing,and also making profession halls similar to class hall is a really nice idea,the new race and subraces added feel like they’re perfectly good integrated in there.

Unfortunately i noticed some flaws there and there that i would like to ask about

The first one is that there is no main bad guy, it just seems like a bunch of titanic constructs. Burning Crusade had Illidan, Kael'thas and Kiljaeden. Wrath of the Lich King had, obviously, the Lich King. Cataclysm had Deathwing. Mists of Pandaria had Garrosh Hellscream. Warlords of Draenor had all the orc warlords,and Archimonde. Legion has Gul'dan, Illidan. You need to pu in there someone recognizable and who is felt like a menace and tied to the present lore and who can drive the story of the game through multiple patches.

The second one is that there is too much content already seen,i mean the continent and zones part looks like already seen,i mean you were a bit vague in the description,you should flesh out more especially the descriptions and the storylines of those underground zones,like the Drogbar Deeps or the Mogushan Depths,who are the ones that inspire me most.Even the dungeons need to be more fleshed out and tied to the story because in the current state are a bit vague and unoriginal.

Another thing that is missing is a bestiary,with all those underground zones i expect many new interesting creatures being around,maybe they could even be featured as secondary enemies beside the titanic constructs.

I hope you’re not offended by my considerations,i only want you to fix those points to make this expansion better because i really like this and i’m impatient to see what you’re going to do next,especially with the patches.

[Edlarel]

*snip*

Not offended at all. Thank you very much for the feedback! I'll try to address these from the top down.

1) As far as a big bad is concerned, the closest thing anybody knows at the start of the expansion is that Gallywix is the main objective because he has the parts needed to finish the reorigination. I left this piece out because a) I hadn't thought of a good villain yet that we could work with and 2) the big bad isn't always immediately known. For WoD, we were initially told that Gromash wouldn't be the main villain, then he was, then he wasn't again. As a preview, I left it open ended since it's still being developed.

2) For the most part, this expansion does for world quests, leveling content, and content scaling what Cataclysm did for old world zones. It opens up those features to all of Azeroth and beyond. To that end, a good portion of new content can be found in existing zones once you have access to it. You can still go through the original questlines (as laid out in Cataclysm), or you can take this alternate route of scouting out world quests (starting at ~level 50) and completing them on the continents until level cap.

As for descriptions of actual new zones, consider architecture from those expansions, like Mogushan Depths looks like a combination of Guo-Lai halls and Mogushan Vaults. Drogbar Deeps has a similar appearance to where Navarogg brings you after you defeat the fel-totem in Highmountain. There would be cool, underground plants growing from cracks in some places, rivers, lakes, etc. And, the "skybox" machine you can get from engineers allows you to change the overhead areas of most underground zones to appear open and outside, day/night, twilight, on fire, or other things like that, so you never feel totally closed in.

3) Definitely got a bestiary in mind, but very little to work with since I'm unfortunately far from being an artist. I know I want a lot of mechanical versions of things we've seen, with upgrades. In places like Draenor and the Night Elven zones, you'll probably find dream creatures as well, similar to those in Val'sharah.

Thank you again for the feedback and the interest. I plan to update some more stuff again soon, just been busy with taxes and other adult life things this month.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I certainly wouldn't be opposed to it but the amount of things/content in this theoretical expansion is more then I've seen to date. The previous expansion before this one would have to be extended a bit just to make the amount of content. That's about it and while this isn't the direction I'd go with a underearth/subterranean/underground expansion. It is an interesting interpretation of that theme.


Edit: Yes I know thread is a few months old.

[Edlarel]

I certainly wouldn't be opposed to it but the amount of things/content in this theoretical expansion is more then I've seen to date. The previous expansion before this one would have to be extended a bit just to make the amount of content. That's about it and while this isn't the direction I'd go with a underearth/subterranean/underground expansion. It is an interesting interpretation of that theme.

It may seem like a lot, but really it's just spelling out a lot of the small things that happen with each expansion and providing background/reason for them. In addition, some of this is progressing over the life of the expansion (like class specs). Finally, with the (hypothetical) preexisting tuning of classes not eating up a lot of design space, designers and developers have more time to spend focusing on some of the new/updated stuff.